Maputo, Mozambique, 15 June – Mozambican electricity company, EDM has launched two pre-qualification tenders for contractors for the supply and assembly of the power transmission line from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam to Malawi, according to newspaper Notícias.
The first tender is to shortlist contractors for the supply and assembly of the power transmission line from the Matambo substation to the border between the two countries and the second is related to the provision and extension of the 220 kilovolt substation, located on the outskirts of the city of Tete.
The work is part of an initiative called 220 Kv Mozambique-Malawi Interlinking Project, as part of the so-called Southern Africa Energy Market.
With pre-qualification, EDM plans to evaluate the experience of the potential builders in projects of that kind, their technical and financial capacity, and will later select some of them for the final stage.
Both tenders are open to all competitors from eligible countries, as defined in the pre-qualification procedures in the World Bank guides, and proposals must be submitted by June 29 at EDM.
Power from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa dam is expected to reach Malawi in 2009.
Located in the Songo region of Tete province, the Cahora Basssa dam currently supplies power to Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and via the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), also sells electricity to Namibia and Botswana. (macauhub)
Friday, 15 June 2007
Malawi gov't teeters as court rules against president
Malawi's top court on Friday dealt a blow to President Bingu wa Mutharika, upholding a ruling which could strip his party of almost all of its parliamentary seats and make it hard to legislate government business.
The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling which would prevent legislators who defected to wa Mutharika's breakaway Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from taking their seats.
The ruling, which wa Mutharika had challenged, could leave the DPP with as few as five MPs in Malawi's 193-seat parliament, now firmly controlled by allied opposition parties United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
"While the Constitution of Malawi provides for freedom of association and freedom to hold political opinion, MPs who leave their parties betray the electorate and their parties and must seek fresh mandate through by elections," Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo said in his ruling.
MCP supporters went into a frenzy, dancing and singing party songs soon after the ruling, the latest in a series of political ructions to hit the impoverished southern African country.
"It's a victory for democracy. The ruling has brought sanity among our MPs and this will help bring political sanity in the country," said lawyer for the opposition, Kalekeni Kaphale.
Boniface Dulani, a political analyst at University of Malawi said the ruling seriously weakened wa Mutharika, who has been fighting long and bitter political battles since leaving the UDF and forming his own party after becoming president in 2004.
"The president has been trying to gain power in parliament but with this ruling, he will face an uphill battle in passing government business in the House," Dulani said.
Close to 70 legislators, including cabinet ministers and deputy ministers who joined the DPP could lose their seats if parliament's speaker acts on proposals already put forward by the opposition.
The UDF and MCP already control 115 seats in the legislature and the court ruling looks to give them the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass measures including constitutional ammendments.
Wa Mutharika's chief political advisor Heatherwick Ntaba said the DPP could still retain the seats through by-elections because wa Mutharika is a popular president.
Wa Mutharika has been pitted against his former mentor and predecessor as president, Bakili Muluzi, whose UDF has joined the MCP in seeking to impeach him on graft allegations and abuse of office.
Last month the two parties threatened to derail any government business in parliament including a rejection of the 2007/08 national budget unless wa Mutharika stopped poaching their MPs and explained overspending by his administration.
The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling which would prevent legislators who defected to wa Mutharika's breakaway Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from taking their seats.
The ruling, which wa Mutharika had challenged, could leave the DPP with as few as five MPs in Malawi's 193-seat parliament, now firmly controlled by allied opposition parties United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
"While the Constitution of Malawi provides for freedom of association and freedom to hold political opinion, MPs who leave their parties betray the electorate and their parties and must seek fresh mandate through by elections," Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo said in his ruling.
MCP supporters went into a frenzy, dancing and singing party songs soon after the ruling, the latest in a series of political ructions to hit the impoverished southern African country.
"It's a victory for democracy. The ruling has brought sanity among our MPs and this will help bring political sanity in the country," said lawyer for the opposition, Kalekeni Kaphale.
Boniface Dulani, a political analyst at University of Malawi said the ruling seriously weakened wa Mutharika, who has been fighting long and bitter political battles since leaving the UDF and forming his own party after becoming president in 2004.
"The president has been trying to gain power in parliament but with this ruling, he will face an uphill battle in passing government business in the House," Dulani said.
Close to 70 legislators, including cabinet ministers and deputy ministers who joined the DPP could lose their seats if parliament's speaker acts on proposals already put forward by the opposition.
The UDF and MCP already control 115 seats in the legislature and the court ruling looks to give them the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass measures including constitutional ammendments.
Wa Mutharika's chief political advisor Heatherwick Ntaba said the DPP could still retain the seats through by-elections because wa Mutharika is a popular president.
Wa Mutharika has been pitted against his former mentor and predecessor as president, Bakili Muluzi, whose UDF has joined the MCP in seeking to impeach him on graft allegations and abuse of office.
Last month the two parties threatened to derail any government business in parliament including a rejection of the 2007/08 national budget unless wa Mutharika stopped poaching their MPs and explained overspending by his administration.
Malawi government facing collapse
Blantyre - Malawi's Supreme Court granted powers on Friday to the speaker of parliament to fire defecting MPs in a move likely to lead to the collapse of President Bingu wa Mutharika's minority government.
In a much-anticipated ruling, Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo determined that the speaker could use a controversial constitutional provision to expel any lawmaker who had changed party affiliation, including around 30 former opposition or independent MPs who now sit on the government benches.
"We are in full agreement with the high court that Section 65 of the constitution is not inconsistent with other provisions and it is valid," Unyolo told a packed courtroom.
The judgement was the climax to a long-running dispute which was argued before the lower courts, with Mutharika himself leading the pressure for a definitive interpretation of Section 65 after opposition parties began pushing for the expulsions a year ago.
About 60 of the parliament's 193 members will be affected by the ruling, half of whom are now loyal to Mutharika's government and his ruling Democratic Progress party after being enticed to cross the floor.
The speaker, Louis Chimango, has yet to make his intentions clear but is widely expected to expel the MPs when parliament reconvenes at the end of the month, given his background in the opposition Malawi Congress Party.
Mass by-elections would then be held to replace all those who had been forced out of parliament, leaving Mutharika with the task of having to stitch together another coalition or else be forced out of office.
Attorney General Jane Ansah, who was present at the ruling, told AFP outside the court that she would brief the president about the outcome but acknowledged there was little room for manoeuvre.
"That's the end of it all. This is the highest court of appeal and now it depends on what parliament does," she said.
If Chimango, himself a lawyer, "requires my legal opinion, I will give it to him," she added.
Kalekeni Kaphale, a lawyer for the Friends of the Court pressure group which has been pushing for the expulsions said he was delighted by the verdict.
"It's a good day for some of us who believe in democracy," he said.
In a much-anticipated ruling, Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo determined that the speaker could use a controversial constitutional provision to expel any lawmaker who had changed party affiliation, including around 30 former opposition or independent MPs who now sit on the government benches.
"We are in full agreement with the high court that Section 65 of the constitution is not inconsistent with other provisions and it is valid," Unyolo told a packed courtroom.
The judgement was the climax to a long-running dispute which was argued before the lower courts, with Mutharika himself leading the pressure for a definitive interpretation of Section 65 after opposition parties began pushing for the expulsions a year ago.
About 60 of the parliament's 193 members will be affected by the ruling, half of whom are now loyal to Mutharika's government and his ruling Democratic Progress party after being enticed to cross the floor.
The speaker, Louis Chimango, has yet to make his intentions clear but is widely expected to expel the MPs when parliament reconvenes at the end of the month, given his background in the opposition Malawi Congress Party.
Mass by-elections would then be held to replace all those who had been forced out of parliament, leaving Mutharika with the task of having to stitch together another coalition or else be forced out of office.
Attorney General Jane Ansah, who was present at the ruling, told AFP outside the court that she would brief the president about the outcome but acknowledged there was little room for manoeuvre.
"That's the end of it all. This is the highest court of appeal and now it depends on what parliament does," she said.
If Chimango, himself a lawyer, "requires my legal opinion, I will give it to him," she added.
Kalekeni Kaphale, a lawyer for the Friends of the Court pressure group which has been pushing for the expulsions said he was delighted by the verdict.
"It's a good day for some of us who believe in democracy," he said.
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